The Stand Up Guy
by mkim57
Summary: This is a little play on words and another view of the show's finale.


The 'Stand Up' Guy

Chapter 1/1

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the JAG characters. I don't own any product or label mentioned for the purposes of telling this story. Any similarities to situations or persons living or dead are purely coincidental.

Spoilers: Anything up to and including 'Fair Winds and Following Seas.'

A/N: Many thanks to aerogirl for her beta reading skills and encouragement (and occasional attitude adjustment)

A/N: These are just two of the many definitions found in Merriam-Webster's dictionary of the term 'Stand up': to rise to a standing position. OR: to remain sound and intact under stress, attack or close scrutiny.

A/N: I am taking a bit of license with the timeline on this particular day in the life of our DD. This may or may not fit into your view of the sequence of events. So much of the last few scenes left a lot to the imagination…so here goes nothing, with one of my many views of that evening.

2055

Friday

April 29

Harm's Apartment

North of Union Station

Harm's apartment was quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were that of the shower running and of pleasure from the couple inside it.

The warm water from the shower ran over both of their bodies, increasing their sensitivity and sensation and causing the steam to rise from the shower into the rest of the room. It seemed to make it more difficult to pull themselves out of the haze their lovemaking had made; it bound them together and blocked out the rest of the world.

They had to be at McMurphy's in less than an hour. Everyone of consequence had been called. They had only to get themselves there. A task that was becoming more difficult by the minute. Mac was first to try and break the spell and get them back to reality.

"Harm, if we don't stop, Bud and Harriet will be sitting in McMurphy's wondering what happened to us." The words she said made perfect sense but they were said in a voice still thick with desire.

Harm was still holding her close to him, kissing and nuzzling her neck, tasting the water and Mac's sweet skin. He pulled her closer, each movement starting a new feeling of arousal and taking them back to a world that was theirs alone.

"Mmmm hmmm," he answered, not really paying attention to what she had said. The feel of her body fitting to his, slick with water and soap, was kindling a fire that threatened to quickly engulf them both. They had finally come together as he knew they would and it had been perfect, leaving him only wanting more of her.

Mac couldn't believe how good it felt to be here in his arms. It would be so easy to begin again and spend the rest of the night making up for all their lost time. But fate was waiting; they had a future to decide, and whatever it brought, she would never be without him again. She pulled back to try and catch his gaze. He only left the sensitive spot on her neck to taste her lips again and draw her into a kiss that nearly caused her knees to buckle. Harm pulled her close and stood a little straighter, holding her up, making her want to lose herself in him once again.

Mac tried one more time to get his attention. If she failed this time, she was ready to give up and give in for the rest of the night. "Harm….we have to go…..remember?"

Harm lifted his head and looked at her, his eyes so dark with passion that it nearly took her breath away. As he began to take her mouth again she managed to say the word "Fate."

He stopped and looked into her eyes. She returned the look, pleading with him to understand: she did not want to leave this place with him, but they had to go, for now.

Harm closed his eyes and said "Okay" before opening them. "For now," he added, echoing her thoughts.

Mac slipped out of his arms, but Harm held on to one of her arms, unwilling for this space in time to end. Unwilling to let her out of his sight even for the amount of time it took for her to go home and dress for their celebration and announcement.

Harm watched her as she backed out of the shower; the woman he had dreamed of was standing before him. She was everything he had imagined and more. He stood leaning on the glass block wall of the shower, watching her dry off, the water running down his body in tiny rivulets and pooling on the floor.

Mac couldn't help but blush; the side of Harm that could be almost shy was nowhere to be found. His gaze was intense and unflinching. She had seen desire on the faces of the men in her past, but this was something different entirely. It made her remember the way he had looked at her when she was lying in the bathtub in Paraguay. This time was different, though. There was so much more to see in his eyes, so much more that she understood now.

"I…I won't be long. Afterwards, we can finish up at my apartment." It occurred to her that this could be interpreted two ways. "I meant packing, but…"

Harm continued to look at her in the same devastatingly intense way. "You have a shower there too…right?"

Mac began to back out of the room, gathering her clothing as she went. If she didn't get out of there now, she wasn't going to at all.

Fifteen minutes later….

Mac drove back toward her apartment in silence, her mind still reeling with what had happened in the last hour and a half, her body still humming with pleasure.

He had said he loved her.

The best man she'd ever known… loved her.

Mac smiled, thinking of the way this day had begun and of the way she had thought it would end. She knew now that this was it, that there would never be anyone for her but Harm. They were going to be together…a family: she, Harm and Mattie.

She thought of her own family, primarily of her father. What would Joe Mackenzie think of Harm? Mac tried to look back into her memory and think of a time that her father spoke of a man he that he had admired. What was the term he had used? A stand up guy. That was it. A good man was a 'real stand up guy.' She did not have very many good memories of her father, but she decided that on this good day, she would hold on to this one.

She smiled to herself, thinking that that would describe Harm very well. She felt a blush creep up her neck when she thought of how Harm had looked standing in the shower watching her dry off just minutes ago. Harm was impressive just standing there, in the literal sense.

Mac parked in front of her apartment and hurried in to change. As she passed a box of books, in her peripheral vision she saw a dictionary on top of the box. She stopped a moment and opened it. She read the definition and smiled: 'sound and intact under stress, attack or close scrutiny.' She closed the book and went to her bedroom to get ready for their 'fateful' meeting.

She was on her way to McMurphy's in no time at all. She was still deep in thought about her stand up guy. There was no one example of when Harm had stood up for her or stood by her; there were many.

She remembered that in the very beginning he'd tried to defend her Uncle Matt and in the process had kept her from risking her career. She remembered seeing him stand on the bluff as the chopper carrying her and her uncle to what could have been certain death began to ascend. He wouldn't give up – he barely knew her but he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let her be destroyed by the situation at hand or the circumstances afterward.

She sat waiting at a traffic light; she glanced in the rearview mirror, her mind taking her to another time when she'd witnessed his ability to remain 'sound under stress, attack or close scrutiny.'

She remembered Russia, when he'd gone searching for his father. She recalled watching as he slept, his dreams making him restless and making Mac even more determined to help him in any way possible. He'd stood by his belief that his father had been taken to Russia by the KGB. He'd risked his life to prove it and honored his father. She had respected him so much for that.

They had both stood up with Bud and Harriet when they had married. Harm and Mac had been honored to stand in the sanctuary as little AJ was christened and they made their vows as his godparents. Their deep connection had strengthened even as the circumstances of their lives pulled them apart.

She smiled as she remembered Harm standing on the deck of the Patrick Henry, waiting for her COD to land. She had not seen him in months but she had been able to pick him out from everyone else. No one stood as tall as Harm did, figuratively or literally.

In her mind's eye Mac saw another time that Harm had stood on the admiral's porch, after saying too much. He'd stood holding onto the door, seemingly willing himself to open it and escape what he had just said. She remembered that she'd walked swiftly toward him, unable to believe what she had just heard. 'He was right….about some of us being in love with you.' He had been too much of a 'stand up guy' back then to beg her not to marry Mic. She understood now that was probably what she had wanted all along.

She pulled into the parking lot at McMurphy's. The memories were still swirling in her head of all the times Harm had proven the kind of man he was over and over. He'd stood by Bud after the he was injured in Afghanistan. He wouldn't even allow her to risk her career by disobeying an order. She had chided him about it…but she had loved him for it too.

That had begun the months that he seemed to just 'stand by'…a limbo of sorts…something she still didn't understand but hoped one day that she would.

It seemed that something awful had begun when he had stood by his brother and not allowed her to know anything about it. It had been his way of protecting her as well, though; she understood now.

She remembered the sight of Harm standing at a taxi stand in Paraguay. She had turned away from him, knowing she had said too much but unable to find the words to take it back. She remembered the unreadable expression on his face as he stood in the doorway of his apartment, after he hadn't answered 17 messages, when he was flying for the Company. It still physically hurt to think of it.

She said aloud, "No."

She got out of her car and made her way toward the entrance to the bar. She wasn't going to do this. He loved her – she knew that now. She had been told in the past by other men that they loved her, but Harm's confession tonight had meant more to her than anything.

There were other times, better times. Harm standing up for Mattie in court. Harm standing by her when she thought Webb had died, and afterward when she had been given the news that had nearly devastated her. It didn't matter that they couldn't have a child together the way they had planned; he still wanted to parent a child with her. She shook her head and continued toward the door. She had been away from him too long. She needed to be where he was, right now.

The night air chilled her, and she folded her arms across her chest. She looked up and saw Harm sitting at the bar. Seeing him there reminded her of how far they had come in just one fateful night. She was going forward now…with him.

She opened the door and as she walked into the bar he turned to look at her. The look on his face showed the love he felt, unguarded and unashamed. A look filled with the promise of what was to come, tonight and forever. As she approached him, he did what he always had.

He stood up.

FIN

A/N: I know this story may seem a little backward. I started in a very, very warm place and took you back into the real world, but this story wouldn't leave me alone. Every time I see the scene at McMurphy's where he stands as she approaches him and their soft and very sensual kiss before they sat down, it tugs at my heart. I just had to write about what got them there…I couldn't help it.

A/N: This story was also about the many ways Harm is a stand up guy. I wanted to write as many examples as I could of Harm standing up, literally or figuratively. You may see that the only places in the story he is sitting down is at McMurphy's and when he sees her….well you know the rest. (Smile)


End file.
